State Sen. Greg Brophy’s proposal to put Colorado permanently on daylight saving time seemed like a perfect setup for some sarcastic joke.
Something like: “With a massive $1 billion shortfall looming in the state budget, it’s a good thing lawmakers aren’t getting detoured by some non-issue like trying to turn back time.” I probably could have even worked in a gratuitous reference to a Cher song: If Brophy could turn back time!
Instead, I was really thinking: It’s about time! (So to speak.)
Each spring and fall we wander around our homes like zombies fiddling with clocks to spring forward or fall back one hour — even though we’re not quite sure why.
Brophy, a Republican from Wray, wants Colorado to stay on daylight saving time (DST). That would make it darker on winter mornings, which I realize isn’t optimal for kids waiting for the school bus, but it would be lighter later in the evenings when, frankly, most of us are awake and living our lives.
But Rep. Ed Vigil, D-Fort Garland, wants Colorado to join Hawaii and Arizona in staying on standard time year-round. That’s the second-best option — much better than the current system that wreaks havoc on my kids’ sleeping patterns and wastes our time.
Brophy’s idea unfortunately may run afoul of federal law, which doesn’t give states the option of running on DST year-round, The Post’s Lynn Bartels reported.
So once Congress tackles the country’s pending bankruptcy, which I’m sure is next on its to-do list, it ought to get on this time- change thing post haste.
The theory behind daylight saving is that it saves energy.
Modern-day daylight saving can be traced back to the early 20th century and a Brit named William Willet, who apparently didn’t like cutting short his golf game at dusk. He wrote “The Waste of Daylight” and pushed his clock-changing proposal for years. British leaders finally caved in an effort to save fuel during World War I. The concept jumped the pond two years later as U.S. leaders sought ways to shore up the war effort here.
Congress repealed the law after the war, but reinstated it year- round during World War II. After that, it was left up to states and local communities to decide whether they wanted that extra hour of summer daylight, which created a confusing patchwork of rules. So in 1966, Congress stepped in again and said if you’re going to change time, it must be done simultaneously everywhere, ensuring that future generations of Americans would waste time changing clocks for no apparent reason.
Yet studies dating back decades have debunked the theory that spending more of our waking hours in daylight saves energy — especially in the 21st century, when Americans have much different lifestyles and work habits than we did a century ago. If Little Lord Fauntleroy had been burning the midnight oil in the early 1900s updating his Facebook page and setting his fantasy football team, the energy savings argument wouldn’t have made sense back then, either.
Even though debunking that theory would seem to bolster Vigil’s idea to join our neighbors in Arizona on year-round standard time, I simply prefer daylight savings.
And since there’s no good reason for this clock-fiddling, it’s solely about personal preference. I prefer that it’s dark when I’m trying to sleep in, and I’d prefer to have an extra hour of light at night.
I’ve seen other, more concrete arguments made for DST, as well. If we’re trying to fight childhood obesity, permanent daylight saving gives kids more time to play outdoors. I even found a study that suggests DST saves lives by reducing evening traffic fatalities.
Let’s vote on it. If the majority wants standard time, let’s fall back and stay there. But I’ll get a jump on the negative campaigning: Only vampires would be opposed to saving daylight all year.
Dan Haley can be reached at dhaley@denverpost.com. Follow him on Twitter at @danhaleyDP.
